Conventionally, a banknote bundling device known to the inventor includes a bundling unit and a printing unit (for example, see Patent Document 1). The bundling unit makes a bundle of banknotes by bundling a predetermined number of a certain kind of bundling-object-banknotes with a bundling tape. The printing unit prints a sequence number for each bundling operation on the bundling tape. Moreover, if the bundling operation is not performed and loose banknotes remain in the apparatus, the printing unit prints the same sequence number on the bundling tape with which the loose banknotes are next bundled.
Because the banknote bundling device disclosed in Patent Document 1 prints the sequence number on the bundling tape of the bundle of banknotes, it is easier to handle the remaining loose banknotes in the apparatus in case a failure occurred. The banknote bundling device assigns a sequence number to be printed at the time of the occurrence of the failure to the first bundle of banknotes after the bundling process is restarted. Consequently, it is possible to reduce a count error caused by the occurrence of the failure and an error that an operator may make when recalculating remaining banknotes.
As a technique for performing printing on the bundling tape of the bundle of banknotes, the inventor knows, for example, a technique for printing a serial number of the first banknote on a bundling tape with which, for example, new bills having consecutive serial numbers are bundled (for example, see Patent Documents 2 and 3).
In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 3, for example, a serial number card, on which serial numbers to be printed on marketable securities of a bundle of 1000 marketable securities are printed, and serial numbers actually printed on the marketable securities of the bundle of 1000 marketable securities are compared and the quality of the 1000 marketable securities bundle is confirmed based on the comparison result.
Recently, there has been a proliferation of counterfeit banknotes, and there are instances of overseas counterfeit banknotes dispensed from automatic teller machines (herein after, “ATM”) of financial institutions, resulting in damage of credibility for some financial institutions.
Furthermore, there have been instances of misuse of such circumstances by some who make false claims that the bundle of banknotes dispensed by the financial institution includes counterfeit notes, or that the number of banknotes in the bundle is falling short of the desired number even when the bundle is valid and all the banknotes in the bundle are genuine. Therefore, there has been a need for countermeasures against such situations.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H6-219419    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-237726    Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-346212